IoT is even infiltrating the real estate market. Close your eyes and name the first color that comes to your mind. Is it a four-letter word? Does it start with B? Then it must be BLUE. When it comes to interior design, most adults are in love with the color blue. America’s favorite colors for home decor purchases are blue, black, and gray, according to Spoonflower, followed by pink, white, and green. There is a connection between mural paintings and the impact of colors in our lives.

When Philip Cohen, a University of Maryland sociologist, asked almost 2,000 men and women about their color preferences in 2012, blue was the winner across the board, while the second preferred color for men was green, and purple for women. The color of the year 2019, according to Pantone, is Living Coral — a hot combination of pink, salmon, and orange. The whole economy is revolving around the color wheel.

Mural painting is all about color.

The first color the human eye distinguishes after birth is the color red. Colors come to life only in broad daylight. Darkness is the color’s greatest enemy. There’s no secret that black absorbs all the light. Light is a particle and a wave at the same time. Each color has a wavelength. As soon as we wake up in the morning, light pours like a shower over our eyes. But first, billions of light rays hit our surrounding objects which reflect the light. Some of that reflected light reaches our pupils.

Colors form when splashes of light hit our retinas with a different force. Each color is a drop of light. When an object doesn’t reflect any light back, we say it’s black. When all the light is reflected with the same intensity, we see white. Optics is an excellent science with implications in all areas of our lives, from retail, politics, and art, to real estate.   

People intrigued by the endless creative use of color have become artists — many love web design. Many make a living by bringing color in people’s lives: painters (mural painters), interior designers, make-up artists, and fashion designers are only a few colorful careers. Sometimes, mismatching colors is performed intentionally to create drama and draw attention, but in our everyday lives, harmony is still valued. Creating harmonious interiors through mural painting becomes even more critical as the average American spends 93% of their life indoors, as revealed by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

How to better use colors in interior design.

To keep your interior look as tidy and clean as an image cropped from a Martha Stewart magazine, you have to follow a few rules and have some basic knowledge of color theory. Don’t be scared; it’s easier than you may think.

If you’re a minimalist, you would probably go monochromatic – one color in different tints, shades, and tones. By adding white to the main color, we obtain tints. Shades are the result of the same process but in combination with black. Tones are the new colors obtained by mixing the primary color with white and black (gray).

Can you handle more colors? Choose a color scheme and only juggle up to three colors in various shades and hues for a more sophisticated look. You might find a piece of fabric in a color you like, a china plate, or a bed lining in the color scheme that suits your vision. Take those colors with you whenever you go shopping and share them with the painters who will paint the walls. Automatic paint mixers can reproduce any color in the blink of an eye.

Accent walls and ceilings.

Do you like accent walls? Don’t shy away from intriguing murals or unusual colors or patterns, wallpapers, and even living plants! No matter how small it may be, think outside the box, make it personal. They work wonders even in neutral rooms. To bring nature inside, choose a backlit image with a beach or mountain view. Building a green wall of living plants will only purify the air while the green of the plants will feel lively and refreshing. Fnd for even more color, play with window curtains. These are all inexpensive solutions for the frugal ones.

However, the ultimate accent wall is an indoor water wall. You can choose either a colorful background or a glass panel and illuminate it with smart LED lights. The colors of the lights can be changed from a remote control depending on your mood. Imagine yourself standing on the sofa, sipping an excellent coffee with a good book in your hand, listening to the sound of water — pure bliss. But color will also affect your employees, clients and customers.

If none of these ideas work for you, invite an artist to paint your accent wall. There are famous mural painters out there who can paint not only a colorful artistic image (more or less futuristic) but also an optical illusion. The same goes for the ceiling, where they can create the illusion of an open ceiling with the clear sky above, or a crack in that reveals a fantasy world. Mural painters could be included in the big family of street artists, but their work is jaw-dropping.

Of course, you can keep the ceiling in a plain color, although adding a contrasting color to the ceiling is getting more and more popular. For mansard rooms, you may want to keep the wood beams and the ceiling trusses exposed in their natural colors. Of course, it goes without saying that you’ll do the same in your log cabin or vacation rental.

What colors could help you sell your house faster? According to Clever Real Estate, light beiges and gray-browns in living rooms could get you an extra $2,000.

What about the kitchen? Most interior designers take advantage of the space between the hanging cupboards and the counter and use that exposed wall as an accent wall. Avoid yellow, as home buyers seem to pay less for it,  and bet all your money on brown, gray and white. Beige and red are also worth a try.

Children’s bedrooms

Do you intend to grow your kids in a balanced family environment? Then you should probably stick with the traditional color scheme: pink for girls and blue for boys. Why choose black and white for your kids’ rooms — as Celine Dion did for her baby clothing line — when their eyes were designed to enjoy so many colors from their infancy?

If you leave the painting to the professionals, don’t forget about mural painters. Have you seen the beautiful art that adorns different buildings around the world? Street artists can do a fantastic job indoors too. Mural paintings can tell a story in your baby’s room, girl’s room, and boy’s room – as we all know, an image says a thousand words.

Mural painters may cost $50 an hour or even more. The cost of a mural painting depends on the surface that needs to be covered and the complexity of the design. Some mural painters even charge for research and mileage. Every mural artist is different, but there are plenty to choose from.

If you’re looking for a trompe l’oeil design, though, expect to pay top dollar for it. However, with a paint-by-number kit, you can become an expert in mural painting yourself. Most businesses have started from a simple and fun activity like this one. Maybe you could give it a try.

Of course, mural paintings are going to be replaced at some point – maybe when your kids grow and your access in their rooms gets restricted. When that moment arrives, make sure you choose a color that the nonconforming teen will enjoy for the following years. Cerulean blue, sea blue, beige and light green for boys, maybe, and aqua, yellow, eggshell, lilac, and light pink for girls. But teens might have a word to say, too.

Best colors for a soothing master bedroom.

We spend about a third of our lives asleep. So allow us to give you a few more tips that will make you feel better in this corner of your house. How to paint your bedroom to achieve the most relaxing atmosphere? Choose soft colors like lavender, soft green or gray, and light blues — the bedroom will seem more spacious and airy. Even turquoise is known to be calming and refreshing, probably because it reminds us of the color of the sea on a sunny day. To create an intimate feeling, you should choose darker shades for the walls, though.  

However, interior design allows for a lot of freedom in decorating a bedroom. For a night of good sleep, make sure your headboard is in the North, if you’re living in the North hemisphere (although we know that Indians (India) and American Indians do not embrace this idea). Your bed is the centerpiece so you might want to have a sizeable contrasting bedhead enhanced by many colorful pillows in varying sizes.

 Choose colorful duvet covers either with significant bright patterns or plain. Don’t fall in the trap of over-matching everything, though. Besides colors, the most important thing would be to keep the bedroom clutter-free. Try to recreate a hotel room and hide everything that’s unnecessary.

If we were to borrow from other interior designers, only one rule, that would be the 10-30-60 rule. What is this rule? You have to choose only three colors: a dominant shade that will cover 60% of the room, a secondary shade, and an accent color. The dominant shade should be somewhat neutral, the second one a little bit bolder, while your accent color should be even louder and unexpected. Pairing a muted cerulean blue with white and natural wood seems to be a hot trend right now.

Best colors for your bathroom.

Going to the toilet kidnaps a few months of our lives. A survey carried out by Bathstore, a bathroom company, revealed that women spend a lot more time in the bathroom than men – one year, seven months and 15 days (one month longer than men). This small room is often associated with peace and tranquillity; that’s why blue is one of the most common colors used for painting and tiles.

Mural painters are often invited to paint seascapes or aquatic landscapes and reefs on the walls and ceilings. White is also the color of cleanliness and purity and is widely used in bathroom design. However, we are not against less common color combinations, and you shouldn’t be afraid to go against the current in half bathrooms at least.

Are you selling your house any time soon? You will be shocked, but homebuyers are willing to pay up to $5,000 more for a home featuring a nautical-themed bathroom. White interiors have been avoided and translated in sale price reductions of more than $4,000, according to CBS, citing major listing websites.

Psychological effects of mural painting.

We have mentioned the impact of colors on the human brain above, so let’s go a little more in depth. Color coding is learned from an early age. Psychologists have revealed that each color sends signals to our brain cells, and over the years, we’ve given different meanings to each color. Psychologists are not the only professionals with information on color. Entrepreneurs, startups and founders all look at color for web design, websites and pages. Today, even AI trends are set for the real estate broker as well as for business.

Even the flowers have a meaning derived from their color or borrowed from the Victorian era. Colors greatly influence human behavior, and marketers know how to manipulate buyers to achieve their sales goals. 90% of snap judgments are based solely on color. It might not be evident in real estate, but a florist will definitely agree on this.

Red

• Increases heartbeat, respiration rate, and blood pressure.
• Attracts attention more than any color, it’s aggressive and arousing.
• Signals danger.
• The color of love and romance, the color of Valentine’s Day.
• A symbol of life, since the blood is red (The Red Cross).

Orange

• Emanates energy and happiness.
• Associated with the tropics.
• Suggests creativity and fun and is all about Halloween.
• Used to communicate fun and draw attention.
• It’s inviting and makes people feel more open, so it’s good to use in party decorations.
• The color of autumn and sunsets- the end of summer, the end of fun.
• In the US, the color orange could remind you of the prison uniforms, while in other countries it is the color of royalty or spirituality, like the robes of the Theravada Buddhist followers from South East Asia.

Yellow

• The most noticeable color by the human eye.
• It stands for optimism, positivity, enlightenment, and joy.
• When used in mural painting, it increases mental activity and emanates warmth and vitality.
• It has some negative connotations like jealousy, anxiety, and depression.
• Used to boost someone’s mood.

Green

• Suggests freshness, growth, prosperity, and fertility.
• It is the color of life.
• It’s used to calm and rebalance, especially in hospitals.
• Associated with kindness, so green lovers are thought to be good parents and life partners.

Blue

• The color of freedom.
• Calming and relaxing.
• Dark blue is associated with intelligence, advanced technology, and engineering.
• Nurtures trust and dependability – a magnet for new customers.
• Suggests manliness, elegance, and power.
• In mural painting, blue is a cold color that implies freshness and cleanliness.

Pink

• The color of femininity.
• Associated with softness and grace, as well as immaturity.
• Evokes childhood memories.
• It means love and tenderness, intimacy and passion.
• Naive, silly, vulnerable.

Purple

• A royal color associated with luxury.
• Calming, soothing and mysterious.
• Conveys wisdom.
• Too much purple can irritate you and make you arrogant.
• Associated with premium products and services.
• It stands out because it is used less frequently than yellow, red and orange.

Gray

• Cool and neutral.
• Might cause unsettling feelings.
• Black and white images are more emotional and have an old, vintage feeling.
• Either conservative and boring or elegant and formal.
• It is a practical color, easy to combine, and mix.
• Timeless.

Black

• Formal, powerful, and unapproachable.
• Used to hide things; Black clothes make you look thinner.
• Boosts self-esteem, gives the impression of authority.
• Associated with death and evil, bearing many negative connotations.
• Versatile – easy to combine with any other color
• Used a lot in marketing and in logos to convey boldness and seriousness

White

• Perfection, purity, cleanliness.
• It suggests new beginnings, a new page to write on.
• A symbol for peace, for righteousness, and fairness.
• Creates a sense of order.
• Too much white can feel cold and uninviting.
• It has different meanings in other cultures; for example, in the East, it is associated with death and worn at funerals.
• Makes rooms seem larger.

Some theories still need to be confirmed and tested in color psychology, as this young science finds a way to attract future students eager to understand the link between colors and people’s decisions better.   

Hope for the color blind 

Unfortunately, there are children born colorblind due to a genetic disorder. Color blindness affects both men and women. Worldwide, about 300 million people are suffering from this deficiency. They are unable to read colorful charts, to cook or to read maps. For example, a third of color blind people experience problems when buying and preparing food since they can’t tell whether the meat is fresh or not, or whether it’s adequately cooked or raw.

Moreover, they are unable to drive and have a hard time finding the right job. But after watching a few videos of colorblind people trying on Enchroma glasses for the first time, we were moved to tears. Those glasses have changed their lives completely. Most of them were amazed by the bright colors they missed for so many years, and they seemed to be more fascinated by the color purple, what a great invention.

Finally, let’s look at the impact of color on real estate:

What exterior colors make a house more attractive to home buyers?

We have touched this subject in another blog regarding the exterior color of a house so we will keep it short. The exterior color of a home does have a role to play in the selling process. You can never go wrong with greys and beiges, or a combination of those two known as “greige.” Navy doors seem to be very trendy, too. With only these two improvements, you could ask $5,000 more. Among other safe choices would be to paint your house in off-whites, yellows, and light blues.

Another wise move would be to follow the style of your neighbors. A traditional house usually won’t stand out in an established neighborhood. It would instead blend in perfectly. However, mural paintings from famous artists on the facades could also get the owners extra dollars when they sell their houses, although murals tend to be rather common in commercial real estate than in residential real estate. 

Don’t forget that every year, April 15 is the time to celebrate World Art Day. You can join and do the same by preparing some creative and colorful DIY projects for your home.

Theresa Hus

Real Estate specialist

Theresa Hus is a content writer for RealEstateAgent.com with decades of experience in real estate. Theresa is all about coming up with topics that go beyond the basic real estate agent advice and home buyers/home sellers “how to” articles you see around.